Introducing David
Lamb:

graphic artist, friend,
and accomplished computer-user

(David
passed on Friday morning, January 28, 2005-just one day prior to his
104th birthday)

David Lamb - January,
2001

A Younger
Portrait

This is an account of my
experience introducing a retired commercial artist and centenarian to
the computer. It is about David Lamb and his experiences with four
computers: a Macintosh SE, a Macintosh IILC, an IBM compatible, and
most recently a new Imac. David used both his MacIILC and his PC for
over a year. On a visit with him in August, 2000 I learned that he
had decided he preferred the Mac and had given his PC to a friend who
uses it to play bridge. He decided that the Macintosh was easier to
use despite the PC being newer, having a color printer, and having
better user-support from fellow residents and employees of the home
for the Masonic aged where he lives. Sometime in 2002 a new Imac and
color inkjet printer was purchased by the Masonic Home for his use.
My wife and I visited David February 23, 2003 and received an
demonstration of his new computer. This computer is his first with a
built in modem. With it David has become an Internet citizen and
sends and receives his own email unassisted.

He published a booklet of
sketches and poems in the past on his own that he would now like to
be able to revise and supplement via computer and scanner. Samples
from this booklet appear here later.

David
celebrates his 100th birthday January, 2001. His friends at the
Texas Masonic Retirement Home and his relatives joined on
Saturday, January 27, 2001 to celebrate the occasion. Important
guests were his nephew Don and his wife, and cousins Phyllis Dean
and Lucille Roberts. David received many gifts and
acknowledgements among them citations from the Masonic Lodge and
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representativese.

David's quest to master
this technology and his attitude toward it are unique. It will become
clear that he has developed admirable skills despite his age-related
physical limitations and the constraints of his first older,"less
friendly" computer.

What I have learned from David

Visiting with David -
February, 2003

I have a concept that he
first regarded the computer as a simple alternative to typing. But it
soon became apparent to David that a computer is different because it
provides hidden storage of programs and letters created. He soon
discovered that he had new controls: easy editing, word wrapping, and
font changing. His restricted vision limited exposure to technical
writing and thus did not permit him easy use of manuals. Of necessity
David is a visual learner. What he sees he generally retains. He
learns much via errors if he understands the
cause(s).

I
learned:

not to accept his
physical limitations.

that he needs repeated
exposure. When screens are complex and he needs magnification
until he knows where information is that he needs to read. He
still uses magnification but only when he is "in unfamiliar
territory." He uses both a large stand-mounted magnifier before
his monitor and head-worn weaker magnification
device.

that he can use the
mouse successfully through practice. His parkinson-based tremors
do not prevent him making selections and closing
boxes.

that guided experience
and simple explanations work better than long, verbal
explanations. I have provided experiences and instruction as I
perceived that they were needed.

That he is in no way
intimidated by technology. He is now aspiring to learn how to
accomplish his book revisions via computer. This will necessitate
learning new skills, among them use of a
scanner.

Most of all, I guess
I admire his drive and curiosity. I certainly puts to rest the
all-too-common phrase, "I'm too old for that". Its comforting to know
that statements such as "I've lived this long without a computer" or
"Computers are too complicated" or bragging of one's continued
professional success without a computer are, after all, not
necessarily telling one's age.

The Rest of the Story:

I first met David Lamb, a
relative of my wife's, December, 1995. Phyllis, my wife, and I were
in Kennedale, Texas celebrating Christmas with immediate family. Near
the end of our visit Phyllis received a call from a cousin in
Kentucky on a matter that is long forgotten. But the cousin inquired
where Arlington, Texas was in reference to Kennedale. My wife replied
that we were then practically in Arlington. Well, it turned out that
David Lamb, a relative living in the Home for the Masonic Aged in
Arlington, had been sending her beautiful Christmas cards of his own
creation for several years. At that time Phyllis had been working
diligently to contact all her Lamb ancestors in search of information
on an historic Lamb family loom. It became imperative that we meet
him. Circumstances permitted only a very brief visit on this occasion
as it was on the eve of our return to Ohio.

David is quite agile and in
good health, but does have several age-related disabilities. These
include limited vision, complete deafness in one ear, a
moderate-severe hearing loss in the other, and mild-moderate
Parkinson's Disease. The latter placed significant restrictions on
his ability to write legibly and, particularly, on his ability to
draw and maintain his artistic avocation. To facilitate more legible
writing, David had acquired and was using an IBM Selectric typewriter
when I first met him. He continues to paint pictures and illustrate
greeting cards by using stencils and an airbrush; he relies less on
freehand drawing and painting.

David and his wife, Cecil,
had moved to the Home for Aged Masons in 1986 to acquire better
medical care for Cecil's health problems. They were both retired
commercial artists at the time. They met and married in the early
1930s while working for the Gibson Greeting Card Inc. in Cincinnati.
Later they created and sold their own art from a studio in Texarkana,
Texas. They retired after their property in Texarkana had been
acquired for the right-of-way for Interstate 30. Soon after
retirement Cecil's health declined to a level where David could not
provide her care. They decided to relinquish their property to the
Home for Aged Masons in return for care in their retirement years.
Cecil died several years later. David has now lived at the home
nearly 15 years. He is an active member of the home where numerous
pieces of his art are prominently displayed. Until recently he was
active on a Mason Degree Team that travels to confer Masonic Degrees
within a 50 mile radius of Fort Worth, TX.

David's Art and Poems

On our first very brief
visit in December 1995, he showed us his art studio and gave us a
tour of the Masonic Home, pointing out his numerous pictures on
display. Here is a sampling of some of his art. He creates his art in
his two-room studio.

David's
Christmas Paintings on Display at Masonic Home; three of many on
display.

* * *
*

David has also
self-published a 74-page booklet, Wheat as Truth and
Chaff as Nonsense, of poems and sketches. Here is a
sample of his limericks.

Evolution of
David's Computer Skills

(Detailed Description by
Author)

1996

The summer of 1996 we
planned time to visit and get to know David. On this visit he
mentioned that he was having difficulty seeing the print as he typed
on his IBM Selectric typewriter. He had recently purchased a new
primary font typing ball to replace the smaller font of his standard
typing ball. However, his typewriter could accept this new ball, its
installation resulted in serious crowding of letters. Somewhere in
our discussion, I asked if he would be interested in using a
computer; I explained that the size of the font could be enlarged on
both the screen and on the typed page. I volunteered this information
knowing that I could loan him both an older Macintosh SE and an dot
matrix Imagewriter. My university department had abandoned several
such computer-printer combinations through replacement. I was
prepared to loan him such a pair. David was
interested.

In December, 1996 while in
Fort Worth, I introduced David to a Macintosh SE using system 6.0.
and an Apple Imagewriter. Microsoft Works 2.0 was the word processor
installed. Our visit in Texas required that we share our time with my
children and Phyllis' father and brother. I was only able to give
David 2-3 hours of help on this trip spaced over 3 visits. Several
things became evident. David really liked the challenge of the
computer and was in no way intimidated by it. He had difficulty
finding information on the screen and frequently used a magnifying
glass until he became familiar with the screen display, e.g. layout
of the pulldown menus and

various close boxes. He had
a noticeable hand tremor that made it very, very difficult to use the
mouse to guide the arrow cursor to the close box while clicking the
mouse button. Turning his right hand and arm so as to rest his
forearm parallel to the edge of the table provided stability and
reduced the oscillation of the cursor on the screen as he "moused'.
However, by turning his hand 90 degrees to gain forearm support he
altered the cursor behavior. With the hand resting in this manner,
moving the mouse away from the edge of the table actually moved the
cursor right on the screen. Eventually David could operate the mouse
without forearm support and his eye-cursor coordination improved. It
soon became evident that the concept of files and their hierarchy was
foreign to David. He had real difficulty navigating the printed menus
and various windows that he could open. I eventually changed the name
of Microsoft Works word processing application to 'My Typewriter' and
left it both [aliases] on the Apple Pulldown Menu and
prominently visible on the Desktop. David was soon successfully
typing and printing after his introduction.

When I in returned the next
day, there were untitled files scattered all over the desktop, but...
there were several that he had created, saved and printed. On the
second or third visit he confessed that he had had some difficulties;
that he had done two things to the computer that he hoped were "All
right". First, after the printer had failed, he examined the back of
the computer and found an unattached wire [the printer cable]
that he put back in a place "where it would fit". Second, he had
discovered a small rubber ball on the floor of his room by stepping
on it. He correctly guessed that it must have fallen out of the mouse
whose retaining ring had dislodged . He reinstalled and re-taped the
mouse. Mind you these were successful repairs by a man with
significant visual limitations who had made no prior examination of
these computer "gadgets". But David was having success, was motivated
and was adventuring around the desktop and menus to learn more about
his computer

After returning home, I
received a call from a friend of David's seeking to fix a printer
problem. He was a younger, but retired man, living in the Masonic
home who had extensive experience with PCs but none with Macintosh.
He and I fixed the software problem over the
phone.

1997

The Summer of 1997, Phyllis
and I spent only two days in Texas with friends and family. I had
only an hour with David this visit. He was having some difficulties
with his printer. They were minor and not really related to the
printer. I left him with a functioning unit and replaced his
Microsoft Works 2.0 that I had previously mistakenly "trashed".
However, I did not call his attention to this new addition since he
had made a successful conversion to MacWrite and really didn't need
Works.

1998

On a visit with David the
summer of 1998. I delivered him a refurbished LC Macintosh with a
Apple LaserWriter that I bought at an auction. I had assembled
and rebuilt this system for $150. David had told me that he had save
his money to by a better computer, one with a laser printer. He had
over $600 that he wanted to give me. This 'new' system gave him
increased RAM, color, and a laser printer. The added RAM permitted a
newer operating system, one that permitted setting his screen
displays to display with enlarge type and
icons.

1999

In the spring of 1999 we
received a letter from David indicating that he had the opportunity
to acquire a PC free from a younger man living in his home. He
indicated that his Macintosh monitor was also causing some problems.
He was quite apologetic and seemed to be seeking my permission to
replace the Macintosh that I had acquired for him. I encouraged him
to take the newer PC because it afforded him the opportunity to have
ongoing, local support. I was his only support for his Macintosh
system and it placed serious limitations on his learning
rate.

We visited David in July,
1999 and learned that he did indeed have some monitor problems with
he Macintosh. I learned that his promised PC was on site, but had
only a dot matrix printer. Bottom line: We placed the new unit in his
art studio and left his Macintosh system in his room. We worked with
him to learn Windows 95 and become familiar with his PC. On each of
two subsequent visits that week I found him in his art studio working
with the PC. I was also pleased to learn that one other person in the
home had been by to assist him. Another new, memorable experience for
David was visiting CompUSA, a mega computer store in Arlington. He
was quite amazed at the sheer quantity of the merchandise on display.
We looked at color printers that he might purchase in the future for
his 'new' PC. Our plan was for David to continue to use his Macintosh
unit until he was comfortable with his PC. One highlight of our
CompUSA visit was introducting him to this homepage via a display
iMac. Imagine his surprise upon seeing himself. Although he had
experienced email with assistance from his PC-using friend, this was
his first encounter with the Internet.

2000

In August, 2000 I learned
that David had relinquished his PC to a lady friend. He concluded
that using two computers wasted time and that he prefered the
Macintosh system. It was my understanding that he was successfully
word processing and printing with both units. His primary use of both
machines was to prepare and print correspondence, write new stories
and limericks for his book, and create title pages. It was at this
time that decided to bring David's computer experiences to the
attention of Apple Computer personnel and request that they provide
him a new iMac for his 100th birthday in January, 2001. David would
appreciate and productively use the unit; Apple could use the
occasion for advertising purposes as David is quite lucid and can
provide some interesting comments regarding his experiences with and
preferences for his Macintosh IILC computer and Apple Laserwriter.
Incidentally, I have not had to make any serious equipment repairs or
adjustments for over two years. David's demands on this computer are
minimal, word processing of letters, manuscripts, and envelopes, but
he has replaced his laser printer cartridge
once.

In December I spent only a
day with David as I was quite involved in the preparations of my
youngest daughter's wedding to occur this trip. David reported
continued success with and continual use of his Macintosh IILC. He
had many questions regarding the feasibility of using his computer to
maintain, revise, and print his booklet. We discussed his upcoming
100th birthday and I informed him of my invitation to Apple Computing
to become involved. I cautioned that they might be in contact. So it
would appear that one way or another my wife and I shall endeavor to
assist David acquire the necessary equipment and skills for this new
endeavor.

2001

This is Davids 101st year.
He continued to use his Macintosh to print cards. He continues to use
his laser printer successfully. He has not had to change the print
cartridge yet.

2002

Circumstances have
prevented my wife and from visiting David during 2001-2002. We
learned by letter that the Masonic Home has purchased a brand new
Imac and color inkjet printer for his use. We receive cards and
letters prepared on his computer. In his 2002 Christmas card he
mentioned that his goal was to master email.

2003

In February while
attending my daughter's wedding we visited briefly with David. He was
in good health and spirits. He demonstrated his new Imac (pictured)
and printer. We discussed some emailing problems he was having and
demonstrated how to empty trash on to conserve space. David continues
to learn despite his not having any local Mac-user
support.

My wife and I plan to visit
David for Christmas 2003 as he nears his 103rd birthday. I hope to
spend some time with him acquainting him with the capacity of this
computer to serve as a creative art tool. We will not have visited
him for the past 2 years.

We visited David at
Christmas 2003. His health seemed adequate but he was not steady on
his feet. The home had provided him with a walker that he used to get
around the facility. The staff was noting that David was not getting
adequate sleep; he insisted on getting up at 4:30 A in order to have
adequate time to accomplish personal grooming prior to 6 A breakfast.
The informed him that the wanted him to to to the health clinic so
that he could receive more personal assistance. They agreed that if
he would that they would transfer his computer to this room. He was
fearful that once he went there that he would
remain.

2004

We learned in January that
David had been transferred to the clinic. But we did receive email
from time to time that was sent with the assistance of a friend. We
visited David in early September. He will still in the clinic but
complained of swelling of his ankles. He was still using the walker
to get around although he was noticeably less steady on his feet. He
was still using his computer for word processing. He was having
difficulty recalling how to send email. It seems that this function
of his computer is less familiar to him and he could not recall the
steps that he previously could perform.

2005

In early January we
received a letter from David's nephew alerting us that he had just
returned from visiting David. He found David's health had
deteriorated to a very low point. Within the week we received a call
from him announcing David death on Friday morning January 28th, just
a single day prior to his 104th birthday. He had died peacefully in
his sleep.

In
Summary

David never ceases to amaze
me. He began his computing nine years ago at 95 years of age. With
limited instruction, great intuition and motivation, persistence, and
old equipment that with the first unit didn't accommodate his
physical limitations, he has mastered word processing and email; he
never did master browsing the Internet. He has no fear of his
computer and continues to explore the directory continually,
sometimes to the point of misplacing files or making adjustments that
cause significant problems. With the introduction of his second and
third computers I altered the default font and image sizes of his
desktop display. Until recent visits I have tried to introduce David
to some new computer skill, but his increased frailty and difficulty
learning new tasks and recalling more recent events have caused me to
just focus on refreshing skills word processing. David remains a dear
friend and retains his drive to communicate with others via his
computer. He is concerned that he is losing his links to the outside
as he experiences difficulty using his computer.This page was last updated by
Richard Dean on January 28, 2005.